MANCHESTER — The pressure was all over Christina Jones, much like it was trying to snuff out her basketball team Monday night.

The second-seeded Portsmouth High School girls basketball team had watched No. 3 Windham cut what was once a 20-point lead down to just four with a minute to play, and was swarming to cause the turnover that would give it the ball back with a chance to carve further.

Jones got the ball in the right corner — and the attention. She looked over her shoulder, spotted teammate Devon Parker under the basket and threw an on-target baseline pass that Parker turned into two critical points.

Moments later, the Clippers (18-3) were all on the court at Southern New Hampshire University celebrating a 47-41 win, one that advanced them into Friday’s Division II championship against top-seeded Lebanon (21-0), a 56-41 winner over No. 4 Milford in the late semifinal.

John Carden/Portsmouth Herald photo
Members of the Portsmouth High School girls basketball team react following their 47-41 victory over Windham in Monday's Division II girls basketball semifinal at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester.

It’s a team that opened the winter with a 22-point loss at Pelham and has seemingly been progressing ever since. All the way to the final.

“The way we played our first game in the beginning of the season, I never would have thought we’d make it this far,” said senior center Alicia Brown, who had a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. “But I’m very proud of my team. I couldn’t ask for a better group.”

It’s the first trip to a state final for the Clippers in 13 years. They reached the Class L final in 1999-2000, getting overwhelmed by Nashua, 70-33.

The start, against a team that had beaten them on their home floor three weeks ago, was almost surreal. Behind the inside play of Brown, Parker (13 points) and Jones (10 points), the Clippers exploited their size advantage and inflated their lead to 33-13 early in the third quarter before the wheels started coming off a bit.

The Jaguars (16-5) began trading in off-target outside shots for some better looks inside. They got within 33-21 on a hoop by Bernadette Connors (11 points) but were still down by 15 in the early stages of the fourth quarter.

“In the second half we did a much better job attacking the seams,” said Windham coach Joe Mason. “The plays weren’t being called any different in the first half; it was just the execution.”

“In the third quarter we took a couple bad shots, they rebounded and they got their running game going,” said Portsmouth coach Danny Parr. “We thought if we could keep it a half-court game we’d be better off.”

It didn’t get to be white-knuckle time until guard Amanda Schiebel (13 points) hit a three with a little over four minutes to go, getting the margin back to single-digits — 41-32 — for the first time since midway through the second quarter.

Clairee Putnam then converted off a turnover to continue what would grow into a 12-4 run, making the score 45-41 with a little over a minute to play.

But after point guard Tighe Loch pushed the ball upcourt and passed it to Jones, the senior forward found Parker underneath for the basket that all but clinched it, especially after Phoebe Collins capped a good defensive possession at the other end with a steal.

“They were putting a lot of pressure on me and I was looking around, trying to find an open man,” said Jones. “Right when Devon scored I knew we had it and that they wouldn’t have enough time to come back.”

Putnam and Kelsey Schiebel, who combined for 46 points in Windham’s 59-55 win at Portsmouth three weeks ago, were held to a combined 11 points on 3-of-21 shooting. But their coach lamented the selection more than the missing.

“We found a way to get the ball inside and attack them (in the second half),” said Mason. “If we’d been able to do it a little earlier it might have been a different story.”

It’s the first trip to state final in 21 years for Parr, the New England Hall of Fame coach who guided St. Thomas Aquinas to a Class M boys title in 1991-92. Like he did then, he tossed the credit to the players.

“I thought Alicia had maybe her best game of the year tonight,” he said.

The early rounds went to Portsmouth, playing in the semifinals for the first time in three years but showing few nerves. Finding the 6-foot-3 Brown and the 5-foot-11 Parker inside, the Clippers led 14-3 after one quarter and 27-11 at the break.

Brown scored 10 points in the half, turning nearly every clean entry pass into points. Parker drove in for nine points and both players finished the half with seven rebounds. They’d finish with a 32-19 edge on the glass.

“I thought both offense and defense in the first half was as good as we were capable of playing,” said Parr. “They didn’t get a lot of threes, they didn’t penetrate and, when they did, Alicia gobbled up the defensive boards.”

In the end, they had to work for the win. But one could argue that made it even sweeter.

“I don’t think anyone thought we’d make it to the championship game,” said Jones.